The State Committee on
Water Industry plans to construct Argitchi and Astghadzor reservoirs in Lake
Sevan basin. According to the initial assessments, the reservoirs shall serve
for the irrigation of 12 residential areas, as well as to promote energy
efficiency: the operation of 6 pumping stations pumping water out of Lake Sevan
will be stopped.

Hambardzum Hambardzumyan, Head of Agriculture and Environmental Department of
Staff of RA Gegharkounik Regional Municipality, said: 'If the dam ensures minimum amount of water needed for fish movement and
spawning, if we can ensure fish pass ways and natural flow in the lower reach, I
completely support the construction of dams, which is also positive for the
development of agriculture.'

'Construction of dams will result in the complete change of water quality, the
whole water of the dam will be directed to irrigation and the bond between Lake
Sevan and the upper reach of the Argitchi River will be cut off, which may
result in the drastic decrease in the fish reserves in Sevan basin, drastic
increase in the reproduction opportunities of red-listed Sevan khramulya, Sevan
koghak and 2 trout subspecies, even there is a risk of their elimination in this
section. The volumes of invertebrates and water plants can also be reduced,'
Samvel Pipoyan said.

'The Astghadzor River doesn't exist as such. In the place where a dam is planned
to be constructed, there isn't much water in the river. If a dam is constructed,
it may only serve Astghadzor and Zolaqar communities,' Astghadzor resident
Vardan Vardanyan said.

Hambardzum Hambardzumyan also confirmed the low water in the rivers of Sevan
basin. He mentioned that Vardenik, Martuni, andAstghadzor rivers get dry
completely, while in the lower reach of the Argitchi River only sewage flow into
Lake Sevan.

28.2.2018
Armenian Government Increasing L

Armenian Government Increasing
Legal Tree Felling Volumes

Source:
ecolur.org,
2018-02-15

The volumes of legal tree feeling will increase three times in 2018 as compared
with the preceding 10 years accounting for 90596 cum. This volume has been
approved by the decree of RA Agriculture Ministry as of 6 February 2018.

Even this increased volume can't meet the demand of the timber existing in the
country.

The research results of FLEG 1 Project on forest legislation use and forest
management sphere implemented in 2010 showed that in Armenia each family uses
10-15 cubic meters of firewood in the season. There annual demand of 500-650
thousand cubic meters of firewood which isnít possible supply by sanitary
felling.

Under 'State Center for Forest Monitoring' SNCO, in 2013-2014 the total volume
of the fuelwood consumed in the internal market made up 977.011,7dense/c.m. in
2013-2014, the volume of non-registered used fuelwood Ė 773.778 cum.

If a decision is reached to legalize the illegal tree felling to meet the demand
of the timber, we will lose our scarce forests, which will result in the serious
ecological state Ė soil erosion, loss of water springs, landslide and
desertification process activation, loss of oxygen, reduction of carbon dioxide
collectors and elimination of forest biodiversity.

In parallel with illegal felling, in the recent 10 years, the state hasn't
allotted any funds from the fines paid for illegally felled down trees.
According to 'ArmForest' SNCO Deputy Director, Chief Forester Ruben Petrosyan,
in 2018 the state has allotted funds for reforestation for the first time in the
recent 10 years.

28.2.2018
Community Resilience in Armenia

Community Resilience in Armenia

Source:
eunewsletter.am,
2018-02-22

On 20 February the Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr
Świtalski participated in the Community Resilience Forum in Yerevan, along with
regional and community government representatives and development programme
officers. Topics covered during the forum included how to strengthen community
resilience; the results of the incorporation of disaster risk management into
socio-economic development strategies and programmes; the importance of
utilising new technologies.

The forum was organised as part of the ďInstitutionalisation, replication and
dissemination of Disaster Risk Reduction interventions in the South Caucasus of
the European Commissionís Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid DepartmentĒ
project. This project is funded by the European Commissionís Civil Protection
and Humanitarian Aid Department (DG ECHO). The European Unionís regional
Disaster Preparedness Programme (DIPECHO) aims to make communities in areas
prone to natural hazards less vulnerable, and to boost their resilience to
natural and man-made hazards. The total DIPECHO funding in the South Caucasus
since 2010 is over Ä10.4 million. In the present funding cycle (DIPECHO V,
2017-2018), the total funding for the Southern Caucasus (Armenia and Georgia) is
Ä945,705 (EU contribution of Ä800,000) with approximately Ä520,000 for Armenia
through two projects. Current DIPECHO partners in the South Caucasus are: UNDP,
UNICEF, Save the Children, Danish Red Cross (implemented through Armenian and
Georgian Red Cross societies), Oxfam, and Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB)

Armeniaís SDG Innovation Lab: what
did we learn from our first project?

Source:
un.am,
2018-02-23

A part-government, part-UN hybrid, the launch of the newly-christened Armenian
National SDG Innovation Lab was accompanied by a cascade of commitments
including everything from revamping Armeniaís statistical architecture to
training an in-house government behavioural science team.

In any industry, we encounter gaps between results and rhetoric, between what
sounds good and whatís actually doable. The development sector is certainly no
different. With this firmly in the back of our mind and four months in the
rear-view mirror, weíve decided to take stock and ask how are we doing? Have we
been living up to our promises to be transformative? Are we really a genuine
space for different kinds of actors to work together?

To do that, weíre looking through the lens of one of our very first projects:
theSDG Barometer ó a real-time platform for measuring and visualising
implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Armenia.

To build a tool with relevance to a wide audience, we dug deep into different
kinds of potential users to better understand their search habits and data
needs.

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